It is from 1940. It is a medallion for the 50 year anniversary of the founding of Woodmen of the World fraternal organization. You can find one on eBay if you do a search. I'll betcha someone metal detected yours!
Soak that piece in olive oil for a month; it won't hurt it, but it "might" improve its appearance. I agree, looks T-H.
Nice! I was trying to research and could not find anything. I was even searching for 3 US Presidents on a tree!
Woodmen of the World, and many other fraternal organizations, belong to another age, as foreign to us as the Internet or even television might have been to our great-grandfathers. HOWEVER. The memorabilia generally brings very good prices on eBay; I'm not sure why.
Awesome! Thanks guys! I'll try the olive oil and I metal detected it in my backyard lol. I have a strong passion for coins and their history.
Nice work, derkerlegand, beat me to the answer. Here is a little background on this area of exonumia, one of which I collect.This organization has issued many tokens over the years. It was founded in 1890 by Fred A. Falkenburg, and the headquarters was in Denver. Members could be found all over the civilized world, and it had the narrowest membership age limit of any such organization - 21 to 44, inclusive. Only white males engaged in preferred professions were accepted, and 46 types of work were listed as ineligible, allowing it to enjoy the lowest loss of members to death of any such similar organization. It was primarily a patriotic, fraternal order, and would pay $1000 to $3000 to dependent relatives of any member who passed away. Dues were usually 50 cents/month back in the late 1890's, but an additional amount of insurance could be purchased for an extra monthly fee of between 35 cents to 2.25, depending upon the member's age and amount of extra insurance. One would think this a relatively safe group of men to insure, but things can happen. For instance, in 1899, 27 members just from the state of Oregon passed away, most of them in Manila of typhoid. Another benefit was that the society would place a beautiful and lasting monument to mark the final resting place of any member. Woodmen of the World (Life Insurance) is still operating today in some states, and in other states operates under the name of Assured Life Association. Their motto Dum Tacet Clamat means "though silent, he speaks".
